New York | McGraw Hill Building | 485 FT / 148M | 33 FlOORS | 1931

Perklol · #1 Posted **Apr 22, 2014, 4:58 AM**

McGraw Hill Building
1931
(Description from Wikipedia)

The original McGraw-Hill building was located at 469 Tenth Avenue. This second McGraw-Hill building, on 42nd Street (33 stories, 485 ft / 148 m) was completed in 1931, the same year as the completion of the Empire State Building. The architect was Raymond Hood. The exterior walls of the building are panels of blue-green terra-cotta ceramic tiles, alternating with green-metal-framed windows, with a strongly horizontal orientation. The building was the only New York building shown in the influential International Style exhibition in 1932, and it's also been cited as a landmark of Art Deco design.

Located on West 42nd Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, one of the two blocks that also houses the Port Authority Bus Terminal, the McGraw-Hill Building had been the tallest building in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood for decades. It lost that status with the building of One Worldwide Plaza. It is still visible from a distance, but is dwarfed by the newly constructed Orion Building on the same block, a 58-story tall residential complex, also with a green exterior.

The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1989.

Hudson11 · #2 Posted **Apr 22, 2014, 6:02 AM**

fugly international-art deco blend. I really dislike the color of the facade. Brick or limestone would have been better.

LMich · #3 Posted **Apr 22, 2014, 7:47 AM**

One of my all-time favorite buildings. Never having seen it from a distance, I was shocked when I first learned that it was a historic skyscraper. It was way ahead of its time.

MolsonExport · #4 Posted **Apr 22, 2014, 12:54 PM**

ahead of its time, for sure.

marvelfannumber1 · #5 Posted **Apr 22, 2014, 1:08 PM**

I love this building, the shape and proportions are excellent and the color is really unique. It could use a good wash though, it has gotten kinda dirty over the years.

montréaliste · #6 Posted **Apr 22, 2014, 1:38 PM**

One of my all-time favorites. As a student, coming in from Montreal many years ago, when the coach exited the Lincoln tunnel, the first skyscraper that greeted me was this green clad beauty. A great building indeed.

ThatOneGuy · #7 Posted **Apr 23, 2014, 12:09 AM**

A historic photo to put the building in context.

This is the building that formed the link between art deco and international style skyscrapers in the US. Just a year after this one was done, the first real American international style skyscraper, the PSFS building in Philadelphia, was finished.

It could use a restoration.